A Healthy Diet for Heart Disease

It is very possible that your diet may cause heart disease; it’s strange but quite likely to be true. There are many different factors within a person’s diet that may lead to the development of heart disease, and this is why.

Eating fats - trans and saturated fats

The amount of bad cholesterol in the body increases when eating trans fats and saturated fats. In fact there is a misconception that cholesterol is bad, cholesterol is actually good for you but it is the process cholesterol goes through that makes it bad for you and contribute to heart disease.

Okay so we know eating trans and saturated fats increases cholesterol that is bad for you, but what is this “bad cholesterol” and why is it bad for you?

“Bad cholesterol” is caused by low-density lipoprotein (LPL), which is a very small (around 18 to 25 nano meters) class of lipoprotein particles that carries cholesterol around the body in the blood stream.

The low-density lipoproteins (LPL) cause problems by transporting the cholesterol to the arteries. Over time cholesterol can create a bottle neck in the artery as the cholesterol causes atheroma, which is a group of inflammatory cells that build up in the artery, over time these atheroma can cause the arteries to narrow making it more difficult for blood to pass through, and in some cases causing heart disease

Salt

High blood pressure can be caused by too much salt in your diet. High blood pressure also known as hypertension or arterial hypertension is a major cause of many medical conditions that make up heart disease

Alcohol

Alcohol has been shown to be a contributing factor, if not the cause of heart disease. Conversely there is an opinion that drinking alcohol, particularly red wine, at a moderate level will make you less likely to have a heart attack than those who don’t drink at all, but those who drink alcohol heavily increase their chances of heart disease significantly.

Summary

As we have already stated approximately one million Americans die each and every year as a result of cardiovascular disease and did you know that heart disease kills over one hundred and ten thousand people in England, a small country, every year.

As you can see your diet does have a significant impact on the health of your heart. The interesting aspect is all the food types we have mentioned when taken in excess could cause heart disease, but in fact are actually very good for you in moderation.

Because heart disease is one of the largest killers in many western countries, there is a great deal of emphasis placed on diet, with many governments in the world trying to increase people’s awareness of why they should have a balanced diet. You may see many pamphlets or television programs telling you about the affects of salt and alcohol, in some countries you may even see information on products themselves.

The busy lives we all lead today cannot be avoided so it is essential that this pursuit of awareness is maintained. The affects of poor diet as many people eat TV dinners and unhealthy food cannot be over stated.

Perhaps this will have made you think twice about the food that you eat, if it has then it has served its purpose.

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